TL;DR: Overall, an incredible dinner at Californios! Regarding the food, I thought it was an incredible meal. Some of the dishes were nontraditional, and I felt the most “Mexican-inspired” dishes were the first bites, like the aquachile chilapita and ceviche but despite that all the dishes were still very delicious and well prepared. The only let down for me was the beef dish, but other than that the food and service were amazing. My personal favorites were the black cod taco, the squab, and the raspberry paleta. Cost was approx. $300pp.
Hi everyone, went to dine at Californios on 10/21/23 and wanted to share my experience. Wall of text incoming. This was the last day of their summer menu, and so some fall aspects had already crept their way into the menu.
**Beginning bites:**
We started off with a welcome drink. It was an aqua fresca, made with grapes steeped in chamomile tea, and finished with ginger foam. The drink was pretty delicious, in my opinion, the ginger foam made the drink, it was a great flavor and also the texture was pretty interesting. The foam was thickened and came out of the cup as one piece.
The 1st dish was the aguachile Chilapita. It had the jalapeño and smoked sturgeon mousse on a black masa tart, topped with Tsar Nicoulai Caviar. Amazing first bite and off on a strong start, mousse itself was very creamy and flavorful.
The 2nd dish was the bluefin tuna tostada and Chile Padilla mixed oil. I expected more and it’s a pretty good dish but nothing exceptional in my opinion.
3rd dish is the shrimp flauta, accompanied by shiso guacamole. The filling comprised of shrimp, Chile negro, Chile guajillo, and sesame seeds. I was very impressed with the guacamole, from what I can remember it didn’t have that bitterness of raw shiso and was exceptionally smooth and delicious.
4th dish was the ceviche, comprised of konbu cured Hawaiian kanpachi, with cucumbers, ice flowers, tomatoes, and frozen aguachile leaves that are made from green tomatoes and Serrano oil. An aquachile broth made of tomatoes, Serrano, and poblanos was poured over the ceviche. I thought this dish was very well constructed and was a delicious elevation of a traditional Mexican ceviche.
Onto the 5th dish, the Sopa De Papas, the caviar service for the night. It was cold smoked kaluga caviar on a bed of braised and fried potatoes and medjool dates. The server then poured some potato soup in, which was Chef Val’s elevated interpretation of his mother’s potato soup from his childhood. This was an incredible dish, and the sweetness of the dates added complexity to the dish and were a really great addition to balance the savoriness of the potato and caviar.
Last photo from the stack above is the palate cleanser: Hielo – Apples with cilantro granita and apple chamoy. Honestly, was kind of a letdown as a palate cleanser.
**Onto the tacos!**
The 1st taco we had was a mezcal battered rockfish on a bed of grilled poblano salsa sitting on a sourdough tortilla. The fish was topped with a huitlacoche and corn crema. The fry on the rockfish was great and the crema added a good depth of flavor.
The 2nd taco was a black cod taco on a gold masa tortilla. The black cod was brushed with a zarandeado verde and served with grilled padron peppers and a brokaw avocado salsa. This was my favorite taco of the three, I thought the fish was cooked perfectly and the zarandeado verde added complexity to the fish.
The 3rd taco was venison on a conico morada masa tortilla. It was served with a morel, king trumpet, and porcini mole, and grilled chanterelle mushrooms and white truffle shaved on top. Overall, a very good dish. I wasn’t paying attention to the spiel the server gave so I wasn’t aware it was venison at first, and I thought the meat was very good with minimal to no gameyness. The mole was also an interesting pairing to the taco, but I was disappointed in the truffle. It didn’t add much to the dish in my opinion. Maybe restaurants aren’t getting good truffles at the moment? I know some restaurant got some really poor-quality truffles in recently, including mine.
I thought the taco dishes paired a lot of different flavors very well, and in my opinion showcased how impressively humble Mexican dishes can be elevated.
**Following the tacos, we have the main dishes:**
The 1st main was California squab with 3 Chile sauce and 3 plums, finished with a jus steeped with the same 3 chiles used for the sauce. I think at the restaurant I underappreciated this dish, but now I realize how much I did enjoy it. The chiles sauces were incredibly delicious, they added 3 different varieties of spiciness while also adding some unique flavor profiles to the squab. The cook on the squab was also amazing and seared to perfection.
The 2nd main was the beef. It was Imperial Reserve American Wagyu with grilled summer squash, sun gold tomatoes, summer herbs, pasilla Chile mix, and finished with a Meyer lemon beef jus. Honestly, the dish was fine overall, nothing amazing or exceptional. Beef was cooked perfectly but it just wasn’t anything incredible for me.
**Lastly, we get into the dessert courses:**
1st dessert is an Isla Flotante Tabesquena steamed over sesame seed milk horchata, topped with a southern California passion fruit curd and citrus meringue. To be honest, I can’t remember my impressions of this dish, the wine was hitting at this point and I don’t think I was paying attention while eating. Maybe some of the friends I went with can chime in?
2nd dessert was a Luneta de Chocolatl: Cocoa nib yogurt crema, fig leaf ice cream, fig leaf oil, with Kashiwase white peached compressed in whey, and honey coated grains. Very delicious dessert, I loved the crema and ice cream. Not sure how I felt about the peaches, can’t really remember it too well.
3rd dessert was a crispy crepe filled with queso de bola cream, topped with hazelnut butter and fresh queso de bola. It was a delightful, little bite.
4th and last dessert were a raspberry paleta in lime spun sugar, dusted with red Serrano and raspberry tajin. This was probably my favorite dessert. The sweetness of the spun sugar along with the acidity of the raspberry paleta was one of my favorite flavor pairings of that night. It was nice to first bite into the softness of the sugar and then have the crunchiness of the paleta when you reach the center. Amazing dessert overall.
Mignardise
60% chocolate bonbon with a banana and peanut butter ganache
40% chocolate bonbon with salted caramel
55% chocolate dipped nixtamalized fig, candied in a piloncillo syrup
Our take home souvenir was an in house aged vanilla extract.
Fragdict on
Did Janet Yellen pay for your meal
Looks amazing. How difficult is it to get a res?
rsvandy on
I went here in September and it was amazing. Had a lot of the same dishes, too.
frankiemj on
Still my favorite restaurant in SF. It’s interesting, the first time we went to Californios the beef was the best we’ve ever had. Since then, it’s been more hit and miss, but generally we enjoy the beef dishes.
InstructionNo3616 on
Wow I went when they first opened in 2015 and had no idea it was still around!
nicko1702 on
The after dinner gift is 100% poppers.
pbenn008 on
Loved it when we went a bunch of years ago! Glad to see it’s still doing well! Looks like an amazing meal!
7 Comments
TL;DR: Overall, an incredible dinner at Californios! Regarding the food, I thought it was an incredible meal. Some of the dishes were nontraditional, and I felt the most “Mexican-inspired” dishes were the first bites, like the aquachile chilapita and ceviche but despite that all the dishes were still very delicious and well prepared. The only let down for me was the beef dish, but other than that the food and service were amazing. My personal favorites were the black cod taco, the squab, and the raspberry paleta. Cost was approx. $300pp.
Hi everyone, went to dine at Californios on 10/21/23 and wanted to share my experience. Wall of text incoming. This was the last day of their summer menu, and so some fall aspects had already crept their way into the menu.
**Beginning bites:**
We started off with a welcome drink. It was an aqua fresca, made with grapes steeped in chamomile tea, and finished with ginger foam. The drink was pretty delicious, in my opinion, the ginger foam made the drink, it was a great flavor and also the texture was pretty interesting. The foam was thickened and came out of the cup as one piece.
The 1st dish was the aguachile Chilapita. It had the jalapeño and smoked sturgeon mousse on a black masa tart, topped with Tsar Nicoulai Caviar. Amazing first bite and off on a strong start, mousse itself was very creamy and flavorful.
The 2nd dish was the bluefin tuna tostada and Chile Padilla mixed oil. I expected more and it’s a pretty good dish but nothing exceptional in my opinion.
3rd dish is the shrimp flauta, accompanied by shiso guacamole. The filling comprised of shrimp, Chile negro, Chile guajillo, and sesame seeds. I was very impressed with the guacamole, from what I can remember it didn’t have that bitterness of raw shiso and was exceptionally smooth and delicious.
4th dish was the ceviche, comprised of konbu cured Hawaiian kanpachi, with cucumbers, ice flowers, tomatoes, and frozen aguachile leaves that are made from green tomatoes and Serrano oil. An aquachile broth made of tomatoes, Serrano, and poblanos was poured over the ceviche. I thought this dish was very well constructed and was a delicious elevation of a traditional Mexican ceviche.
Onto the 5th dish, the Sopa De Papas, the caviar service for the night. It was cold smoked kaluga caviar on a bed of braised and fried potatoes and medjool dates. The server then poured some potato soup in, which was Chef Val’s elevated interpretation of his mother’s potato soup from his childhood. This was an incredible dish, and the sweetness of the dates added complexity to the dish and were a really great addition to balance the savoriness of the potato and caviar.
Last photo from the stack above is the palate cleanser: Hielo – Apples with cilantro granita and apple chamoy. Honestly, was kind of a letdown as a palate cleanser.
**Onto the tacos!**
The 1st taco we had was a mezcal battered rockfish on a bed of grilled poblano salsa sitting on a sourdough tortilla. The fish was topped with a huitlacoche and corn crema. The fry on the rockfish was great and the crema added a good depth of flavor.
The 2nd taco was a black cod taco on a gold masa tortilla. The black cod was brushed with a zarandeado verde and served with grilled padron peppers and a brokaw avocado salsa. This was my favorite taco of the three, I thought the fish was cooked perfectly and the zarandeado verde added complexity to the fish.
The 3rd taco was venison on a conico morada masa tortilla. It was served with a morel, king trumpet, and porcini mole, and grilled chanterelle mushrooms and white truffle shaved on top. Overall, a very good dish. I wasn’t paying attention to the spiel the server gave so I wasn’t aware it was venison at first, and I thought the meat was very good with minimal to no gameyness. The mole was also an interesting pairing to the taco, but I was disappointed in the truffle. It didn’t add much to the dish in my opinion. Maybe restaurants aren’t getting good truffles at the moment? I know some restaurant got some really poor-quality truffles in recently, including mine.
I thought the taco dishes paired a lot of different flavors very well, and in my opinion showcased how impressively humble Mexican dishes can be elevated.
**Following the tacos, we have the main dishes:**
The 1st main was California squab with 3 Chile sauce and 3 plums, finished with a jus steeped with the same 3 chiles used for the sauce. I think at the restaurant I underappreciated this dish, but now I realize how much I did enjoy it. The chiles sauces were incredibly delicious, they added 3 different varieties of spiciness while also adding some unique flavor profiles to the squab. The cook on the squab was also amazing and seared to perfection.
The 2nd main was the beef. It was Imperial Reserve American Wagyu with grilled summer squash, sun gold tomatoes, summer herbs, pasilla Chile mix, and finished with a Meyer lemon beef jus. Honestly, the dish was fine overall, nothing amazing or exceptional. Beef was cooked perfectly but it just wasn’t anything incredible for me.
**Lastly, we get into the dessert courses:**
1st dessert is an Isla Flotante Tabesquena steamed over sesame seed milk horchata, topped with a southern California passion fruit curd and citrus meringue. To be honest, I can’t remember my impressions of this dish, the wine was hitting at this point and I don’t think I was paying attention while eating. Maybe some of the friends I went with can chime in?
2nd dessert was a Luneta de Chocolatl: Cocoa nib yogurt crema, fig leaf ice cream, fig leaf oil, with Kashiwase white peached compressed in whey, and honey coated grains. Very delicious dessert, I loved the crema and ice cream. Not sure how I felt about the peaches, can’t really remember it too well.
3rd dessert was a crispy crepe filled with queso de bola cream, topped with hazelnut butter and fresh queso de bola. It was a delightful, little bite.
4th and last dessert were a raspberry paleta in lime spun sugar, dusted with red Serrano and raspberry tajin. This was probably my favorite dessert. The sweetness of the spun sugar along with the acidity of the raspberry paleta was one of my favorite flavor pairings of that night. It was nice to first bite into the softness of the sugar and then have the crunchiness of the paleta when you reach the center. Amazing dessert overall.
Mignardise
60% chocolate bonbon with a banana and peanut butter ganache
40% chocolate bonbon with salted caramel
55% chocolate dipped nixtamalized fig, candied in a piloncillo syrup
Our take home souvenir was an in house aged vanilla extract.
Did Janet Yellen pay for your meal
Looks amazing. How difficult is it to get a res?
I went here in September and it was amazing. Had a lot of the same dishes, too.
Still my favorite restaurant in SF. It’s interesting, the first time we went to Californios the beef was the best we’ve ever had. Since then, it’s been more hit and miss, but generally we enjoy the beef dishes.
Wow I went when they first opened in 2015 and had no idea it was still around!
The after dinner gift is 100% poppers.
Loved it when we went a bunch of years ago! Glad to see it’s still doing well! Looks like an amazing meal!